Disney executives hope every guest has an unforgettable experience when visiting their theme parks. They succeed every time, though sometimes for all the wrong reasons.

While I've made many magical memories with my family at Disneyland before, the memory of one terrible experience outweighs them all and remains forever stamped on my brain.

I won’t go into all the details of the unholy night that was “Mickey’s Halloween Party" of 2015. But we were packed with a massive crowd in unseasonable heat, unable to move more than 10 feet at a time for nearly an hour.

Hundreds of tense strangers pushed against us, many of whom were rude, sweaty and swearing. My children were screaming and my pregnant wife was desperately trying to get us through the melee.

Suffice it to say that the experience brought this grown man as close to tears as I've ever been without actually crying. It was a night of suffocating claustrophobia that gave me a permanent case of agoraphobia.

We spent a fortune on THIS?

What made things worse was realizing in that moment that I'd spent our family’s entire vacation fund to be there.

A five-day, one-park-per-day ticket now costs $1,640 for a family of five, plus food, hotel and travel costs. To say nothing of the significant amount of time that goes into planning such a vacation and getting there.

Driving from Phoenix to Anaheim also takes nearly six hours, without planning extra time for L.A.'s horrendous traffic.

I know such experiences aren’t rare among the 18 million-plus annual guests who drop similar amounts of money to visit Disneyland.

After all, my horrible experience wasn't a fluke or bad timing. It was brought about because of congestion caused by a parade on Main Street USA – and that event happens twice every day.

I’ve had countless friends and family members regale me with horror stories of their own from visiting "The Happiest Place on Earth."

No wonder Star Wars disappointed

That’s terrible news for Disney because research shows that negative experiences stay with people a lot longer than the positive ones. One traumatic experience can haunt someone forever and in Disney’s case, keep would-be eager spenders miles away during any peak event.

The embarrassing public response to Disneyland's grand opening summer of "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" is one such example. Disney CEO Bob Iger himself recently admitted to shareholders that Disneyland park attendance actually decreased by 3% after Skywalker and Co. arrived on May 31.

That certainly wasn’t the news anyone was expecting in response to the most hotly anticipated theme park happening of the past decade.

Disney executives are surely scratching their heads trying to figure out how to prevent the same tepid turnout from ever happening again.

This is not the fix you're looking for
Solutions like the just announced “Mid-Day Magic" discount ticket – which, for now, is only offered at Disney World – are sure to be the first of many. This ticket is up to $28 cheaper per day than the standard park admission for a two-day pass if guests are willing to wait to enter the park until after noon each day.

Such promotions are missing the point entirely, though. Finding new ways to pack their parks like sardine cans is only going to make things worse in the long run.

Instead, Disney executives need to better understand why folks like me are so terrified of returning to their bursting-at-the-seams theme parks. They need to return to Walt's dream of ensuring that every Disney vacation is unforgettable for all the right reasons.

Until then, me and my family are going to remain in a galaxy far, far away.